When Referencing the Earth and Sky
Anita Fields, Osage / Mvskoke (Muscogee Creek) / American, born 1951
Osage
Muscogee (Creek)
Southern Plains
Plains
2019
Ceramic, slips, gold luster glaze
Overall: 40 × 30 × 2 in. (101.6 × 76.2 × 5.1 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Acquisition and Preservation of Native American Art Fund
2019.113a-l
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Sculpture
Research Area
Native American
Native American: Plateau
Sculpture
Not on view
Label
The Osage concept of duality is predicated on the division and balance between Earth and Sky. In When Referencing the Earth and Sky, Anita Fields communicates her understanding of this worldview, urging harmony between forces that may at first seem at odds. She borrows from the Euro-American tradition of landscape painting but shifts this typically two-dimensional genre into something more substantial through clay. Trained as a painter, Fields— who works almost exclusively in black and white— brushes on multiple layers of slips and incorporates texture in her ceramic works. "On small bits of torn clay, I create repetitive textures by impressing objects that are meaningful to me. The fragments are layered onto sculpted clay forms, creating depth, design, and dimension. The objects used for impressions are varied and can be as simple as twigs, a favorite pair of earrings, ribbon work patterns from our traditional clothing, or imprints from a beaded purse." -- Anita Fields From the 2021 exhibition Form & Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art and Morgan E. Freeman, DAMLI Native American Art Fellow
Course History
ANTH 11/NAS 11, Ancient Native Americans, Madeleine McLeester, Fall 2020
PORT 8, Brazilian Portraits, Carlos Cortez Minchillo, Winter 2021
LACS 22.11, Latinx Intergenerational Literature, Marcela di Blasi, Spring 2021
ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Sienna Craig, Winter 2022
Exhibition History
Form & Relation: Contemporary Native Ceramics, Citrin Family, Engles Family, and Harteveldt Family Galleries, and Luise and Morton Kaish Gallery Stair, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 6, 2021–July 23, 2022.
Provenance
The artist, Stillwater, Oklahoma; sold to present collection, 2019.
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